Dancing With Words

Here I am at the Palm court in the Waldorf Hotel in London. My husband took me there a couple of weeks ago for a tea dance as part of my birthday present. It's not the first time we've been - we went three years ago and you can read the blog post I wrote about it called 'Waltzing at the Waldorf' here.

What a wonderful time we had! We danced to the fabulous Berkeley Square Society Band and were served the most delicious tea. 

What more could we ask for? Except maybe leaf tea rather than teabags (am I being pernickety?) 

In contrast, last Saturday, we went to a friend's birthday party. Music was provided by a DJ and we were left to 'do our own thing' as my dad used to call it! We realised it was a while since we'd had to dance without set steps. What do we do with our feet? I wondered.

Luckily, it all came back. I was that eighteen year old in the night club again (good job my daughters weren't there to see). Seriously though, It doesn't matter what style of dance it is - my husband and I just love it. And at a party, it certainly beats standing around talking.

I couldn't help but compare my love of dancing with my love of writing. They are how I express myself best and to me, dancing perfectly describes the writing process.

1. Any one can do it but not everyone can do it well.

2. There are many reasons why people do it: for themselves, for others, for fun, for money.

3. The more you practise, the more the steps (both dance and writing) get easier.

4. Neither are easy all the time: we miss steps, go off beat, falter.

5. You can experiment with different styles: in dance it might be ballroom, Latin, ballet, salsa or modern jive. In writing it might be flash, short stories, articles, serials or novels.

6. Slow, slow, quick quick slow... I'm sure we all recognise that one!

7. Finding the rhythm in the music is like finding the flow in the story line.

8. You can go with the flow or learn the rules - it depends on what you're dancing/writing.

9. They are both a great form of self-expression.

10. However good you are, there is always more to learn and someone better than you.

I hope I shall be doing my two favourite things for many years to come.

The Sailor's Waltz - Inspiration Behind the Story

I thought it was about time I wrote another inspiration behind the story. This one, The Sailor's Waltz is in this week's People's Friend and was one I wrote for an illustration that had been sent to me by my editor (interestingly, the original illustration was never used but I have to say I like this one better).

The original picture showed a couple on a boat. What did I know about sailing... absolutely nothing! Now, of course, as writers, we often write about things we don't know. In fact, I find researching new things fascinating but I'm less likely to be enthusiastic about weaving a story around something I've not experienced before. 

I'd established that I didn't know anything about sailing but what did I know about? Those of you who have followed my blog for a long time will know the answer to this... dancing! 

It's six years ago, almost to the day, that my husband and I went to our first ballroom dance class and just over nine since we met at a salsa class. One evening, we were reminiscing about our salsa wedding dance and about our honeymoon cruise where we spent our evenings practicing the few ballroom moves we'd learnt in the few weeks leading up to it (probably pretty badly). 

Our wedding dance wasn't a problem, as we were fairly proficient salsa dancers, but we might have run into a few problems if we'd attempted the waltz. We pick things up fairly quickly but we could only begin to imagine what it might be like for someone with two left feet - how could they possibly learn? Here's our wedding dance for those who haven't already seen it.

The question was, could I mix the two things, sailing and dancing, in the same story? Luckily I could.

In my story, Cally wants to dance a waltz to Moon River, a song her parents danced to at their own wedding. Unfortunately, her fiance, Paul, cannot dance. The only thing he is good at is sailing a boat. When Cally's father (also a member of the sailing club) realises his difficulty, he uses sailing techniques and terms to help Paul learn.

I wonder whether using dancing techniques would help me to learn how to sail? Probably not!